Most Significant Events in Salt Lake City 1984-2010

Icons, leaders and City Weekly readers provide the history.

Q: Besides the Olympics, what is the most
significant thing to happen to Salt Lake City in the past 25 years? Or,
how do you see the city changing the next quarter century? (To weigh in
with your own thoughts on the past quarter century, comment below.)

Paul Rolly, Salt Lake
Tribune columnist

“TRAX, Salt Palace expansion and
renovation, the development of The Gateway shopping center and the
massive restructuring of the traditional downtown business district
near the Salt Lake Temple being conducted by the LDS Church. TRAX has
brought Salt Lake City into the 21st century in mass transit. Soon,
there will be more east-west legs expanding the quick and efficient
transportation system into further subdivisions throughout Salt Lake
County. The most significant leg will be the one connecting the Salt
Lake City hub to the Salt Lake City International Airport. That, along
with the new and improved Salt Palace convention center, should vastly
enhance the city’s reputation as a tourism and convention site. The
Gateway replaced what had been a run-down eyesore on the west side of
the city’s business district, and the new LDS project, which will exist
just to the east of Gateway, should make the city a vibrant place to
hang around, shop and party. The Utah Legislature’s recent action
eliminating the need to buy memberships to each drinking establishment
also is beneficial to the city’s tourism and night-life prospects.”

Steve Erickson, lobbyist and founder of the Citizens Education ProjectPast 25: “The changed
demographics. The city has become much more colorful and diverse, less
bland, white and LDS.” Next 25: “The demographic shift will continue
and the population and density in the city will continue to increase,
as will income disparities. The air quality will worsen, water and
power shortages will become frequent, and overall quality of life will
deteriorate, especially for lower-income households.”

Kevin Kirk, Heavy Metal Shop owner“I’m going to have to say the
most important thing to happen to Salt Lake City in the past quarter
century is the opening of The Heavy Metal Shop in 1987. I remember
talking with John Saltas on the phone back then about placing ads in
the City Weekly(then called The Private Eye). A lot has changed since
then. But one thing that still remains the same is The Heavy Metal
Shop. We have weathered a couple of moves, but have been in the
downtown location going on 10 years now. Thanks to our loyal customers
and their kids!”

Steve Williams, KUER 90.1
“Nighttime Jazz” hostNote: Williams started hosting
the weeknight jazz program part-time on KUER 26 years ago, on June 24,
1984. He has been the full-time director of jazz music at KUER for 25
years. “In the next 25 years, I’d hope we’d develop some kind of
area in downtown where music clubs will be fairly close to each other,
along with late-night dining options. It would be great if downtown is
walkable and has plenty of parking for the walking tour of downtown.
Hopefully, parking costs for the entire evening while you walk the
streets will be reasonable and the streets will be safe and lit up. It
would be like an arts festival every weekend in downtown Salt Lake
City.”

Shelly Thomas Williams, former
KSL 5 reporter“I think the Olympics stand out
sharply as the most important event/situation in the past 25 years, and
I can’t think of anything that compares in impact. I hope those games
(despite the controversy and sharp opposition by some) exposed children
to the fact that a large, welcoming world exists outside of Utah, and
that life should include exploration. It was satisfying to see the city
and state come to vibrant life for those weeks.“In the next 25 years, I expect
that downtown Salt Lake City will revitalize to a thriving metropolitan
center. Many do not believe it can happen, but I believe it will; not
just with the obvious new construction at the north end of Main Street,
which will certainly make a major difference. I think Salt Lake can
rise again through the fact that many will discover the benefits of a
livable, walkable city.”

Jerry Rapier, Plan-B Theatre Company
producing director
Note: Plan-B will celebrate its 20th anniversary during the 2010-11 season. “One
of the most important things that has happened in/to Salt Lake City in
the past quarter century is the creation of the Rose Wagner Performing
Arts Center. It’s amazing that a city this size has such a venue—one
whose purpose is to serve the community through smaller arts
organizations. There is nothing quite like the energy of walking into
the Rose Wagner on a night when shows are running in all three venues
and class or rehearsal in all four rehearsal spaces.”

Frank Pignanelli,
lobbyist and Deseret News columnistPast 25: “In 1987, Delta Airlines
(after the merger with Western Airlines) named Salt Lake City as a hub
site. This subtle but important achievement allows the state to recruit
business, entertainment and sporting opportunities.”

Next 25: “Salt Lake City and
Salt Lake County will be a major focus of economic and cultural energy
in the Western United States. Indeed, as the University of Utah
continues to expand biomedical and technological advances that promote
development on many levels, our tremendous lifestyle will continue to
attract diverse populations and industries.”

Kent Powell, Utah State Historian“The one event during the past 25
years that has changed life for everyone, both in Salt Lake City and
around the world, is the establishment and widespread use of the
Internet. The Internet has had a profound impact on just about every
aspect of our lives from commerce and business, to education,
recreation, communication, and how we do everything from check out a
book from the library to pay a bill, register for a class, reserve a
tee time at a golf course, purchase tickets for events, and keep in
touch with family and friends around the world.

“Perhaps the single-most
important development (and my favorite) in the Salt Lake Valley in
recent years, is the establishment of the Jordan River Parkway.
Although not all of the sections have been completed, many are and the
opportunity to bike, walk or jog along the Jordan River 12 miles or so
from 200 South to 8500 South, as well as significant sections further
north and south, is of immense value to residents of our rapidly
urbanizing valley. It does and will continue to provide recreation and
a respite to thousands of people. Twenty-five years from now, and even
more, people will look back with much appreciation to those who made
the parkway a reality.”

Nancy Borgenicht, actress and Saturday’s Voyeur co-writerPast 25: “The Hotel Utah becomes
the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The closing of The Hotel Utah by
the Mormon church in 1987 took away the soul of this community. For me,
we have yet to recover.”

Next 25: “John Saltas will be
the publisher of a hugely successful daily newspaper with a readership
of hundreds of thousands of Utahns who recognize how critical the
fourth estate is to the future of our country.”

Betsy Burton, owner of
The King’s English Bookshop“From my perspective as a
small-business owner, the creation of Local First Utah is and will
continue to be the thing that has had the greatest impact on our city
in the past quarter century. Salt Lake City was on the road to
ruin—witness Main Street—before we began the process of educating the
public and government about the importance of local business to our
community and our economy. Now, Utahns are rediscovering their love of
community and newly appreciating the uniqueness and vitality local
businesses add to it. People are recognizing that what keeps any
community alive economically speaking is locally owned businesses—not only do we keep our dollars here rather than sending them out of state but collectively, we form a web
of community, reaching out to schools and churches, contributing
hundreds of volunteer hours, and many thousands of dollars, not to
mention pooling our knowledge and expertise to help keep our community
strong.”

Valerie Larabee, Utah Pride Center director“While the 2002 Olympics put Salt
Lake City and Utah on the world stage in an incredibly wonderful way,
the fallout from California’s Proposition 8, which repealed California
gay marriage rights in late 2008, had just the opposite effect. In both
events, the LDS Church was center stage. Salt Lake City’s lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender community and its allies took to the streets
to protest the LDS Church’s involvement on the side against love and
equality. Fast forward two years, and as a result of the division in
families over the issues surrounding gay marriage, Salt Lake City
receives unprecedented support from the LDS Church and passes
groundbreaking nondiscrimination ordinances protecting LGBT people in
housing and employment. This action garnered attention worldwide and
signifies a ripple in the very large pond that is our world.”

Scott Renshaw, City Weekly A&E editor and film critic“In 1984, the U.S. Film Festival
was just coming under the oversight of Robert Redford’s Sundance
Institute, a fledgling entity trying to establish the unique concept of
an international film festival at a mountain resort. In January. In Utah.
Twenty-six years later, the Sundance Film Festival is America’s most
celebrated annual showcase for American independent cinema, a brand
name that has come to be shorthand for an entire art-house subgenre.
While southern Utah may have been immortalized in John Ford Westerns
for decades prior, it was Sundance that raised the profile of Utah as a
vital center for filmmaking and film enthusiasts.”

Marguerite Henderson, chef, former
restaurateur and author“I think there’s been a
resurgence of the food revolution. People have discovered farmers
markets, people are growing their own vegetables, and good restaurants
are locating here. Twenty-five years ago, there were just a handful.
Now, new ethnicities have come into Salt Lake City, serving Thai,
Vietnamese and sushi—whereas 25 years ago, you had buffets. High-end
hotels like the St. Regis and the Waldorf Astoria have discovered Utah,
and it’s a good thing.”

Ted Scheffler, City Weekly dining editor“I’ve seen enormous advances in the local food and restaurant cultures. For starters, there’s fresh fish.
Back in the day, frozen halibut and cod were the only game in town.
Now, you can’t swing a cat by the tail without hitting a sushi bar.
And, thanks to FedEx and UPS, hard-to-find foodstuffs like duck confit
from D’Artagnan, fresh blue crabs from Maryland or New Orleans
turduckens are merely a day away. But the biggest change I’ve seen is
in the average Utah diner’s and cook’s knowledge of food and world
cuisines. I chalk this up in part to the avalanche of cooking shows on
television—which have put terms like pancetta, sweetbreads and frisée
into our daily lexicon—and also to our local chefs, food and wine
purveyors, growers and ranchers who do a spectacular job educating all
of us about food and drink.”